Glossary

Under construction

123

A

Arkell v. Pressdram (1971) – An unreported English defamation case. It is the favourite legal euphemism in the UK for telling someone to FUCK OFF.

attorney-general – In most Common Law countries, the attorney-general is the government’s chief law officer and responsible for the operational administration of justice nationwide. Very often, the attorney-general is also responsible for the policymaking and political oversight on an operational level. In some countries, the attorney-general is also a Cabinet minister. In countries where he is not, he works under the minister of justice or the interior minister.

B

barrister – A trial advocate in countries where there is a split legal profession (e.g. the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, etc). The barrister represents the client in court and advocates his case, but is retained and ‘instructed’ by the SOLICITOR (and not by the client).

C

D

deng (釘) – (Cantonese: literally, a nail)Hong Kong legal slang for a charging order placed on land, property or an asset as part of litigation to exercise rights over a lien.

E

extralegal functions – A euphemism or alternative term for bribery, corruption, influence-peddling and other potentially unlawful or illegal practices.

F

felony – Generally speaking, a felony is a serious criminal offence more serious than a MISDEMEANOUR and usually punishable by imprisonment for a year or more or by death. The UK has abolished the term in the 1960s and replaced it with a classification table of criminal offences. The term is still retained in the USA.

fly-tipping – (British English) The sometimes illegal practice of dumping rubbish or unwanted items by the roadside or various other places that are not designated or not permitted for such disposal. The ‘tipping’ part is an alternative term for dumping, and ‘fly’ is a shortening of the phrase ‘on the fly.’

foreign lawyer – This term may have statutory meaning in some countries. Most usually, a foreign lawyer means a lawyer who is based in one country but doesn’t practise the local laws but only the laws of his own country. For example, a Brazilian lawyer who practises only Brazilian law while living in the USA is normally considered by the authorities as a foreign lawyer.

freehold – Ownership of land or property held outright by the owner (the freeholder) for an indeterminate length of time (otherwise with no expiration date). This differs from a LEASE (TENANCY) where the property is let (rented) on a periodic basis or a LEASE (LEASEHOLD) where the rights to the property for a given length of time are bought and sold. The commonest form of freehold estate is the fee simple.

fuck off – The British legal world’s in-joke and euphemism to tell someone to fuck off is “our response is as indicated in Arkell v. Pressdram (1971).”

G

gazumping – The practice of the property seller either increasing the contracted price or accepting a higher from someone else after having informally accepted a lower oral offer (a promise to purchase) from a prospective buyer. Gazumping is illegal in some countries (e.g. the UK, where the term originated in the 1970s).

H

I

indictment – Pronounced in-dIt-ment. This is a term in criminal prosecution: a formal charge of a serious crime or a felony. The term is not used in relation to minor criminal offences or misdemeanours.

J

jointly and severally – A legal phrase that means two or more persons are fully responsible equally for the liability. The ‘jointly’ means together, collectively and equally and ‘severally’ means ‘individually.’ The phrase must not be objected to as it is a stock legal phrase, backed up with statutory validity in all jurisdictions worldwide.

K

L

lawyer – Generic term for one who is in the field of law. The term doesn’t necessarily indicate the lawyer is licensed by the authorities as an active legal practitioner (e.g. a non-practising lawyer). In countries where there is a split legal profession, a lawyer may be a SOLICITOR or a BARRISTER.

lawyered – When something (document, work, etc) is lawyered, it means the item has been cleared for release, use, etc, after being reviewed by a lawyer for potentially problematic legal issues.

lease – This term can be confusing because it has multiple meanings in two different contexts. See LEASE (TENANCY) and LEASE (LEASEHOLD).

lease (tenancy) – In tenancy law, a lease is a contractual arrangement by which the owner (lessor) conveys land, property, services, asset, etc, to the user (lessee) for a specified time and in return for a periodic payment (rent). Therefore the lessee pays rent to the lessor for use of an asset. Property, building premises and vehicles are common assets that are leased (i.e. let, rented out), as are also industrial and business equipment. The narrower term rental agreement is sometimes used in lieu of the term lease particularly when the asset is tangible property. The verb to lease is imprecise because it can refer to either the user rents the asset or the asset is rented out by the owner.

lease (leasehold) – In property law, a lease in full is leasehold estate. Leasehold is a form of land tenure or property tenure where one buys the right to occupy land or a building for a given length of time. Therefore the leasehold is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property. The tenant (lessee) holds rights of real property in some form of title from the landlord (lessor). That makes the lease a legal estate, so the leasehold estate can be bought and sold on the open market. Even though the tenant holds rights to real property, the leasehold estate is typically considered personal property in law. The counterpart of the leasehold estate is the FREEHOLD.

M

meaningful confrontations – British journalistic euphemism for sex or sexual encounters of the casual kind. See also UGANDA and UGANDAN DISCUSSIONS.

misdemeanour – A minor criminal offence or wrongdoing. See also FELONY. The UK has abolished the use of the term in the 1960s and replaced it with a classification table of offences. The term is still retained in the USA.

N

nail – See DENG (釘).

O

P

PQE – Post-qualification experience, e.g. “5+ PQE” stands for 5 years of post-qualification experience. In the convention of the legal profession, the post-qualification experience means practising law as a licensed lawyer and expressly excludes paralegal work.

primary legislation – Any enactment created and passed by the nation’s legislature or principal lawmaking body.

Q

R

regulation – Usually, any piece of secondary, subsidiary or delegated legislation. The term regulation often occurs in bylaws created under some higher legislation for a specific organisation or area of law.

rule – Usually, any piece of secondary, subsidiary or delegated legislation to operate under a piece of primary legislation.

S

secondary legislation – Any enactment created and put into force by the government under the authority of a primary legislation to finetune the implementation and enforcement of that primary legislation. The term is practically interchangeable with the terms subsidiary legislation and delegated legislation.

solicitor – A non-trial lawyer or attorney in countries where there is a split legal profession. A solicitor’s main work is in providing legal advice and services for the client. The solicitor’s counterpart is the BARRISTER in the hierarchy of the legal profession.

USAGE. In the USA, the non-legal usage of the word solicitor is nearly always in the sense of a solicitant (one who solicits) whose target of the solicitation is solicitee.

statute – Any piece of primary legislation. The term often is extended to include any piece of secondary legislation in many countries.

T

tired and emotional – Formerly a journalistic euphemism for being drunk or being an alcoholic (especially in the sense of habitually). The term in the UK is defamatory and banned throughout journalism.

U

Uganda – British journalistic euphemism for sex. A term popularised by the British political satirical magazine Private Eye in the 1970s under the editorship of Richard Ingram. The term arose from a scandal about schoolchildren engaged in sex romps while travelling on the passenger ship S.S. Uganda. See also MEANINGFUL CONFRONTATIONS.

Ugandan discussions – See UGANDA and MEANINGFUL CONFRONTATIONS.

V

v. – Abbreviation for versus used in case names. In British legal convention, the ‘v.’ in the case name Adams v. Lindsell (1818) would be uttered as “Adams and Lindsell.” In American practice, Wade v. Roe (1973) is uttered as “Wade versus Roe.”

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